March 30th - Kayaks & Wake Boarding

We took the kayaks out this morning.

In the afternoon, I played photographer while JIII, Karine and Robert went
wake boarding. It looked like a lot of fun, but since I have not waterskied
since I was 16, and I have never wake boarded, I decided to play it safe,
especially since it is the day before going home.

In high school I participated in an Outward Bound Canoe Camp that took us
into the boundary waters of Minnesota and Canada. I could not remember for
sure which summer we went - so I looked up the Beetles song "Paperback
Writer" (it was released in 1966). We took the bus from Kansas City to Ely,
Minnesota (with no adults along) and by the time we arrived, this was one of
the songs we knew by heart. I wonder how the other bus riders felt about our
singing?

That was quite the experience; my feet were so bruised they were black and
blue. Because we were girls and had to be cool, we had real moccasins - not
smart when you have to portage a canoe across rocky terrain - we may as well
have been barefoot. Then there were the leaches and having to hang your food
from a tree with noisy pots and pans every night to keep away bears.

We were not allowed to bring make-up, curlers or a mirror and we each
started out with 40-50 pound packs with the supplies and equipment we would
need.

There were two of us to each canoe, my partner was Jeananne and when any boy
scouts came along and offered to carry our canoe for us, we were more than
willing to let them try to impress us. Not all the girls felt the same way;
but my mother did not raise a fool.

The waters were so clean and clear that we used to dip our cups in the water
to get a drink. The same could not be said for our motley crew, when we
returned back to base camp they took us straight to the sauna to try and get
all of the dirt off of us.

We really did have a grand time and it was a very memorable experience.

This trip has been the same - an adventure I will never forget.

March 29th - Jet Skis

Today our neighbors took us on a circle the island tour on their jet skis.
It took all morning to get around by sea. At times as we crossed back and
forth from the lagoon to the open sea it was quite bumpy.
Along the way we saw a large group of dolphins, who took it upon themselves
to entertain us. What a treat. And of course there were the usual sharks,
stingrays and two turtles. On the South side of the island we also got to
see a few brave surfers.
We also stopped at the Lagoonarium to snorkel. These were the strongest
currents I have ever snorkeled in. There were times that no matter how hard
I swam and kicked (with fins on), that I still could not make any headway.
The coral and sea life were beautiful.
We made a stop at a motu to sit in the water and cool down, then headed back
to the mainland for a terrific lunch, sitting over the lagoon at the Hotel
Hibiscus.
Last night we had dinner and spent a lovely evening with the owner of the
HOA Boutique, Joe Perrone (from Philadelphia) and Claudia (from France).
Good times and great people.
hbml

March 28th - Shark Day

We took a lagoon tour today and JIII finally got to swim with the sharks,
manta rays and moray eels (JIII says had to). The first picture was in case
he did not survive the event. For some reason he was not as excited about
doing this as I was, but he did do it and I brought him home safely and
without any missing toes or fingers.

We had a lovely lunch on the motu then snorkeled some more.

We were shown how to make Tahitian ceviche and had a demonstration about
coconuts.

In addition to the sea life we got to see some dogs swimming over for food,
the feral cats and lots of baby chicks.

Another great day - it is hard to believe my time here is almost up.